We caught up with the brilliant and insightful SeQuoiya Lawrence a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
SeQuoiya , appreciate you joining us today. Do you take vacations? How do you keep things going – any advice for entrepreneurs who feel like they can’t step away from their business for a short vacation?
Honestly speaking for myself, Vacations are definitely needed. It’s like a reset for you and if I recall I was on vacation in Miami when I decided I was going to start my non profit. For the past year , life has definitely been lifing! So I’ve taken a break from my business until I can give it my all
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
So all my life I’ve always stood out. Whether it was my grades , work ethic life was just easy to me. Growing up in South Central you grow up and see a lot of traumatizing things, half of my childhood friends are dead or in jail and we’re only 35. I got into a bad car accident in 2021 where I should’ve died and that’s when I knew I was destined to be here. I thought to myself what can I do that will make an impact and have an everlasting impression on people. So I started my non profit organization in memory of my late mother which is geared towards battered women and children. My goal is transitional housing but I wanted to start my non profit to get abused women back into society by providing programs such as counseling resume building and transportation to and from appointments just to name a few. It’s been rough because of course when you’re a new organization people are skeptical on giving money and grants to you. It’s discouraging at times but again it’s all a learning process. Our mission is to guide women towards a brighter future away from all forms of physical, sexual, substance and emotional abuse. So with parenting classes , anger management and domestic violence classes career development and a class on financial literacy we hope to get everyone back into the swing of things. I just need to find a space to provide all of these services.
How did you build your audience on social media?
It was basically word of mouth for me. I didn’t tell anybody but my close friends what I was doing. Literally nobody knew until I made a instagram with the business name. My friends from my regular Instagram begin posting as well as following that page which bought in more followers. I liked that because people began to reach out on their own just from someone mentioning my name. I feel networking is your best bet in the beginning. It’s best to be around people who have either ventured in business themselves or someone who can direct you in the right direction
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k and Stop Overthinking we’re good for my anxiety. Anytime you start new or dive into a new adventure, you’re scared which sends your adrenaline all over the place and those books basically jus tell u stop overthinking and just go for it. So I started with a name filed the paperwork and went from there. As I stated I’m on a break just to get me together but the wait is almost over
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.bonitabutterflyinc.org
- Instagram: Bonitabutterflyinc